Process for assisting the mounting of a tire-wheel assembly onto an axle

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for assisting the mounting of a tire-wheel assembly onto an axle in a high precision without eccentrically arranging the assembly from the axle comprises a pair of opposite clasping members sandwiching the tire-wheel assembly from its side surfaces therebetween, a vibration applying machine fixed to one of the clasping members, and a fastening means for temporarily fastening the clasping members at a given position.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/919,507, filed Aug. 28,1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,797 which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 08/359,650 filed Dec. 20, 1994, now abandoned the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an apparatus and a process for assisting themounting of a tire-wheel assembly onto an. More particularly it relatesto an apparatus and a process for assisting the mounting of a tire-wheelassembly onto an axle which can easily conduct the mounting of thetire-wheel assembly onto the axle of a vehicle in a short time whileprecisely arranging a center of a rotating axis in the tire-wheelassembly with a center of the axle in the vehicle in a straight line andcan largely contribute to improve vibration properties in the running ofthe vehicle and resistance to uneven wear of the tire and isparticularly possible to hold adequately corrected static and dynamicunbalancing quantities in the tire-wheel assembly even after theassembly is mounted onto the vehicle.

2. Description of the Related Art

An outline of mounting the tire-wheel assembly onto the axle of thevehicle will be described below with reference to FIG. 7 illustrating ato partial sectional view of a main mounting portion.

As shown in FIG. 7, a slight clearance is formed in a hub hole (centerhole) in a wheel disc portion 3 d of the tire-wheel assembly (not shown)with respect to a cylindrical protrusion 5 a in a hub 5 of the axleside, so that the tire-wheel assembly is applied onto the hub 5 bypassing plural hub bolts 6 (4-6 bolts in case of a passenger car)equally disposed on the hub 5 at a given pitch circle diameter (PCD)through respective bolt holes 9 formed in the disc portion 3 d at thesame PCD.

Then, a fastening nut 7 is screwed around each of the hub bolts 6 and issufficiently clamped to fully contact the disc portion 3 d to acontacting surface 5 b of the hub 5 or fully contact a projectingportion formed around the bolt hole 9 to the contacting surface 5 b inthe illustrated embodiment. Thus whereby the mounting of the tire-wheelassembly onto the axle is completed.

As shown in FIG. 7, a tip portion of the fastening nut 7 mainly used inlight vehicle, passenger car and small size truck has a taper seat 8,while the bolt hole 9 of the disc portion 3 d has a taper seat having ashape corresponding to the shape of the taper seat 8. When clamping thenut 7, therefore, the taper seat of the tip portion of the nut 7 and thetaper seat of the bolt hole 9 themselves act to exhibit a centeringbehavior with each other. Consequently, the tire-wheel assembly canadequately be mounted onto the axel of the vehicle without eccentricityfrom a center Cx of the axel.

Instead of the centering through the taper seat, a spherical seat (notshown) is formed in the tip portion of the nut 7 and also a seat havingthe same spherical shape as in the tip portion is formed in the bolthole, whereby the adequate mounting of tire-wheel assembly onto the axelis practiced. Further, the mounting of the tire-wheel assembly through aso-called wheel bolt instead of the fastening nut 7 is widely carriedout, in which a taper seat having the same shape as in the taper seat 8of the nut 7 is formed on the head portion of the bolt for conductingthe centering.

There are well-known the following three methods of clamping thefastening nut 7 or the wheel bolt in the mounting of the tire-wheelassembly onto the axel.

Firstly, there is a general method wherein the fastening nut 7 or thewheel bolt is usually screwed to a certain extent every one through awrench and then clamped under a given uniform torque through a torquewrench.

Secondly, there is a method of simultaneously clamping plural fasteningnuts 7 or the wheel bolts through a specific torque wrench, which is aspecial method adopted by automobile manufacturers aiming at thereduction of time required for the mounting of the tire-wheel assembly.

Thirdly, there is a method suitable for skilled workers wherein thefastening nut 7 or the wheel bolt is gradually clamped at positionscorresponding to a diagonal line or opposite positions near theretountil the loosening of the nut 7 or the wheel bolt is removed whilestriking a tire of the tire-wheel assembly by hand or rotating theassembly and then the nuts 7 or the wheel bolts located at oppositepositions are completely clamped through the torque wrench.

The tire-wheel assembly has a fairly heavy weight. For example, when thetire is a radial tire for passenger car having a tire size of 205/65R15and the wheel is an aluminum wheel having a rim contour of 5 1/2J, thetire-wheel assembly has a weight of about 15 kg. Since a braking devicefor the vehicle should be arranged inside the tire-wheel assembly, thedisc portion 3 d of the wheel contacting with the hub 5 is offset towardthe outside of the vehicle irrespectively of passenger car and truck andbus. As a result, it is obliged that the center of gravity in thetire-wheel assembly as a whole shifts at a position outward from anequatorial plane of the tire dividing the tire into two parts in thewidthwise direction thereof.

Since the total weight of the tire-wheel assembly is heavy and thecenter of gravity of the assembly is offset outward from the mountingposition, moment of shifting the center of gravity downward from thecenter of rotating axis in the axle of the vehicle always acts to thetire-wheel assembly at a state of contacting with the hub 5. When thefastening nut 7 or the wheel bolt is more clamped at such a state, theabove moment overcomes the guiding action of the taper seat or sphericalseat and hence both the centers of the rotating axis of the vehicle axleand the tire-wheel assembly become eccentric with each other withoutbeing arranged in the same straight line. That is, the tire-wheelassembly is mounted onto the vehicle axle at an eccentric state of thecenter of gravity of the assembly from the center of the rotating axisof the vehicle axle.

When the vehicle is run at such an eccentric state, exciting force isapplied to the vehicle from unspringing position to create vibrations onthe vehicle and also exciting force is applied to the tread rubber ofthe tire to create uneven wear. As a result, the effect of correctingstatic and dynamic unbalance quantities of the tire-wheel assembly tozero or near to zero before the mounting onto the vehicle for thecontrol of vibrations during the running of the vehicle and theprevention of uneven wear of the tread rubber is largely damaged andalso the vibration properties and the resistance to uneven wear in thevehicle provided with the tire-wheel assembly having insufficientcorrected unbalance quantities are considerably degraded.

If the eccentric quantity is large, the exciting force creates aconsiderably large stress in the hub bolt 6 in addition to the simpledegradation of the vibration properties in the high-speed running. Inthis case, the bolt 6 or the nut 7 is galled or occasionally createsfatigue breakage under the action of large repetitive stress and hencethere is caused a fear of falling off the tire from the vehicle duringthe running. This tendency becomes remarkable when the weight of thetire-wheel assembly is heavy.

The relationship among the vibration of the vehicle, uneven wear of thetread rubber and the aforementioned mounting methods of the tire-wheelassembly onto the axle is investigated by comparison among the first tothird methods, from which it is confirmed that the third method issuperior to the first and second methods in accordance with the worker.However, the mounting work by the third method takes a long time andrequires intuition based on the skilled worker's experience and also thescattering between the workers is large, so that it can not be said thatthe third method is general.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an apparatus anda process for assisting the mounting of a tire-wheel assembly onto anaxle which can mount the tire-wheel assembly onto the vehicle axle withhigh precision without requiring a high level of skill and dependingupon the weight of the assembly and rendering the assembly into aneccentric state while controlling the scattering between the workers toa minimum.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus forassisting the mounting of a tire-wheel assembly onto an axle comprisinga pair of opposite clasping members sandwiching the tire-wheel assemblyfrom its side surfaces therebetween and capable of adjusting a distancebetween the clasping members, a vibration applying machine fixed to oneof the clasping members, and a fastening means for temporarily fasteningthe clasping members at a position of sandwiching the tire-wheelassembly.

In preferred embodiments of the invention, one of the clasping membersis provided at its end side with a guide hole or a guide groove slidablyguiding the other clasping member along the clasping direction of thetire-wheel assembly, and the fastening means is a slide-preventivemember slidably engaging with an elongated hole formed in the claspingmember to be guided so as to extend in the clasping direction thereofand preventing the sliding between mutual clasping members at theposition of sandwiching the tire-wheel assembly. The slide-preventivemember is comprised of a sleeve bearing provided with a flange contactlyengaging with a peripheral portion of the elongated hole and slidablyfitting to the elongated hole, a cam-shaped member provided with a shaftrotatably supported by the bearing, a handle rotating the cam-shapedmember, a nut fastening the sleeve bearing to the clasping member and anut fastening the shaft portion to the sleeve bearing. Alternatively,the slide-preventive member is comprised of a bolt slidably fitting tothe elongated hole and a nut-shaped member contactly engaging with theperipheral portion of the elongated hole.

In the other preferred embodiments, the pair of the clasping members area pair of arm members, and one of arm members is fixed to an end portionof a rod member and the other arm member is slidably attached to the rodmember. The fastening means is comprised of male portion threaded on therod member and a female member engaging with the male portion andcapable of pushing one of the clasping members at the position ofsandwiching the tire-wheel assembly.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is the provision ofa process for assisting the mounting of a tire-wheel assembly onto anaxle of a vehicle, which comprises temporarily and loosely mounting thetire-wheel assembly onto the axle of the vehicle through fastening nutsor wheel bolts, applying a pair of opposite clasping members capable ofadjusting a distance between the clasping members to both side surfacesof the tire-wheel assembly, temporarily fastening the clasping membersthrough a fastening means so as to hold an applied state of the claspingmember to the tire-wheel assembly, applying vibrations to the claspingmembers through a vibration applying machine fixed to one of theclasping members, and successively and completely clamping all of thefastening nuts or the wheel bolts while vibrating the tire-wheelassembly by the vibration applying machine to accurately arrange acenter of rotating axis of the tire-wheel assembly and a center ofrotating axis of the vehicle axle in a straight line.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view partly shown in section of a first embodiment ofthe mounting assist apparatus according to the invention together with atire-wheel assembly;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the mounting assist apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part of the mounting assistapparatus taken along a line III—III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematically partial view illustrating another state of themounting assist apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a side view partly shown in section of a second embodiment ofthe mounting assist apparatus according to the invention together with atire-wheel assembly;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the mounting assist apparatus shown in FIG. 5;and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a main part of a disc portion of atire-wheel assembly mounted onto a hub portion of an axel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the apparatus and process for assisting the tire-wheel assembly ontothe vehicle axel according to the invention, the tire-wheel assemblyinflated under a given internal pressure (higher or loser pressure inaddition to standard internal pressure) (hereinafter abbreviated as anassembly) is temporarily and loosely mounted onto the axle of thevehicle (hub portion) through fastening nuts or wheel bolts, andsandwiched from its side surfaces between a pair of opposite claspingmembers capable of adjusting a distance between the clasping members.The clasping members are temporarily fastened at a position ofsandwiching the assembly, and then a vibration applying machine fixed toone of the clasping members is actuated to vibrate the assembly at agiven frequency as far as a clearance exists between a tip portion ofthe fastening nut and the bolt hole of the wheel or between a headportion of the wheel bolt and the bolt hole.

The continuation of vibration applied to the assembly to move theassembly by the above clearance acts to apparently overcome theeccentricity of the center of gravity of the assembly. As a result allof the fastening nuts or the wheel bolts are successively clamped littleby little under the action of vibration, whereby the clamping force ofthe seat of each fastening nut or wheel bolt to the seat of each bolthole in the disc portion can be rendered into an equal value and alsothe distribution of clamping pressure between the opposed seats overfull surface can be made equal. As a result, the assembly can be mountedonto the axle while arranging the axial lines of the assembly and theaxle in a straight line without causing the difference in the rotatingaxis between the assembly and the axle.

Thus, the vehicle provided with the assembly having at least apreviously corrected unbalance quantity can develop good comfortabilityduring the running without causing vibration phenomenon and completelyeliminates a fear of causing an accident of the vehicle based onvibrations during running. Further, the occurrence of uneven wear in thetire based on eccentric vibration can be prevented during running of thevehicle.

In the pair of the clasping members, one of the clasping members isprovided at its end portion with a guide hole or guide groove, e.g. adovetail groove guiding the other clasping member along the claspingdirection of the assembly. When both the clasping members are slidablyengaged with each other through the guide hole or guide groove, theassembly can easily be sandwiched from both side surfaces across thetread between the clasping members.

Further, when the slide-preventive member is slidably engaged with theelongated hole formed in the clasping member to be guided to extend inthe clasping direction, the mutual sliding between the clasping memberscan be prevented at the position of sandwiching the assembly to surelyapply the exciting force to the assembly.

The shaft portion of the cam-shaped member is supported by the sleevebearing slidably fitting to the elongated hole, while the bearing isfastened to the clasping member through a nut and separately fastened tothe shaft portion through a nut. In this case, when the handle rotatingthe cam-shaped member is worked, even if the rigidity of the assembly inthe widthwise direction of the tire is high, the assembly can stronglybe sandwiched between the pair of the clasping members and hence theexciting force can surely be applied to the assembly. After completionof the mounting steps, the clamping of the nut is released, whereby themounting assist apparatus can easily be taken off from the assembly.

Moreover, if the rigidity of the assembly in the widthwise direction ofthe tire is not so high, it is possible to sandwich the assembly betweenthe clasping members by a more simple means until vibration can beapplied to the assembly when using the slide-preventive member comprisedof a bolt slidably fitting to the elongated hole and a nut-shaped membercontactly engaging with the peripheral portion of the elongated hole.

When an arm member is flexed to an end portion of a rod member andanother arm member is slidably attached to the rod member, the assemblycan easily be sandwiched from both side surfaces between these armmembers across the tread. Further, when a male portion is formed bythreading the rod member and a female member is engaged with the maleportion, the assembly can strongly be pushed from both side surfaces bythe slidable arm members, whereby the same effect as attained in the useof the cam-shaped member can be obtained.

The following embodiments are given in illustration of the invention andare not intended as limitations thereof.

First Embodiment

This embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to FIG. 4.

In FIG. 1 is simultaneously shown a section view of an assembly 1including a center of rotating axis thereof and a side view of amounting assist apparatus 10 according to the invention sandwiching theassembly 1, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of only the mounting assistapparatus 10, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along a line III—IIIof FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a schematic view partially illustrating aworked state of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2. In FIGS. 1-4, an axleportion of a vehicle is omitted.

In FIG. 1, the assembly 1 is formed by mounting a tire (pneumatic radialtire) 2 onto a wheel 3 and preferably inflating it under a giveninternal pressure. The wheel 3 comprises a disc portion 3 d and a rimportion 3 r. Moreover, the right side of the assembly 1 is outside inthe mounting onto the vehicle at the illustrated state.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of opposite clasping members 11, 12 comprisearm portions 11 a, 12 a and sliding portions 11 b, 12 b slidablyengaging with each other. The arm portion 11 a (12 a) and the slidingportion 11 b (12 b) may be a one-piece body (illustrated embodiment) orintegrally united with each other by a fixing member and hassubstantially an angular shape. Moreover, numerals 11 c, 12 c areprotection bodies of rubbery elastomer, respectively, for preventing thedamage of the tire when the arm portion 11 a, 12 a contact with the tireduring the application of vibration.

The sliding portion 11 b is provided with a guide hole 13 extending inthe clasping direction of the assembly 1 or the widthwise direction ofthe tire 2. The guide hole 13 slidably houses the sliding portion 12 bof the clasping member 12 so as to guide it in the widthwise directionof the tire 2 (within a distance shown by arrow A). That is, thedistance between the arm portions 11 a, 12 a in the pair of the claspingmembers 11, 12 is freely adjusted. The sliding portions 11 b, 12 b havelengths corresponding to a range of tire size (tire width) in theassembly to be applied, provided that the length of the sliding portion12 b is sufficiently longer than the length of the sliding portion 11 b.

Moreover, the guide groove (not shown) such as dovetail groove extendingalong the clasping direction may be used instead of the guide hole 13.In this case, the dovetail groove may be formed in the sliding portion11 b to guide the other sliding portion 12 b in the same manner asdescribed above.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 14 is a vibration applying machine, which isfixed to one of the clasping members. In the illustrated embodiment, thevibration applying machine 14 is merely arranged onto the slidingportion 11 b, but may be arranged onto the arm portion 11 a. Pressurizedair is supplied into the inside of the vibration applying machine 14from a pipe airtightly connected to a pressurized air source (not shown)through an inlet port 14 a airtightly connected to the pipe, whereby avibrator (not shown) included in the machine is actuated to generatevibrations acting to the whole of the clasping members 11, 12.

A frequency applied (vibration frequency) is variable in accordance witha pressure of the pressurized air supplied and is practically within arange of 30-100 Hz. When the vibration frequency is within the aboverange, equal clamping force and clamping pressure can be obtainedwithout taking specific care on the clamping order of the nuts or bolts.The vibration applying machine used in this embodiment is a machine ofCH 25 (trade name) made by Exxon Corp., in which the vibration frequencyis about 60 Hz.

An elongated hole 15 extending along a distance shown by arrow A isformed in substantially a widthwise central part of the sliding portion12 b at a position opposite to the arm portion 12 a. Numeral 16 is aslide-preventive member, a detail of which is shown in FIG. 3. Theslide-preventive member 16 comprises a sleeve bearing 16-1 slidablyfitting to the elongated hole 15 and provided at its end with a flange,a cam-shaped member 16-2 provided with a shaft rotatably supported bythe bearing 16-4 or an eccentric disc in the illustrated embodiment, anut 16-3 engaging with male portion formed on the end portion of thesleeve bearing 16-1 and a nut 16-4 engaging with a male portion formedon the shaft of the eccentric disc 16-2.

A center axial line X₁ of the eccentric disc 16-2 and a center of axisX₂ of the shaft are located to separate away from each other at a givendistance δ, whereby the cam function of the eccentric disc 16-1 isdeveloped with the rotating motion of the shaft. In this case, a handle16-5 is preferably disposed on an outer periphery of can-shaped memberor the eccentric disc 16-1 and it is desirable that the center of theattaching position of the handle passes through the axial center X₂ andis an intersect between straight line perpendicular to a plane includingaxial line X₁ and axial center X₂ and the above outer periphery as shownin FIG. 2.

The slide-preventive member is adaptable when it is required to stronglysandwich the assembly 1 between the clasping members 11, 12. If strongsandwiching is not required, the slide-preventive member may becomprised of a bolt loosely fitting to the elongated hole and anut-shaped member engaging with the bolt to cause sufficient pushingforce to the peripheral portion of the elongated hole, whereby thestructure of the slide-preventive member can be more simplified.

The mounting of the assembly 1 onto the axle of the vehicle will bedescribed with respect to a case that the assembly 1 is mounted onto anaxel of hub type 5 as shown in FIG. 7. Moreover, it is common sense thatthe detaching work of the assembly is facilitated by previously floatingthe vehicle through a jack or the like.

The assembly 1 provided with the tire 2 previously inflated under agiven internal pressure and having unbalance quantity of zero or a valuenear thereto by desirably correcting static and dynamic unbalances bymeans of a proper balancer is temporarily mounted onto the hub 5 of theaxle through the fastening nut 7 at a proper loosened state.

Thereafter, the mounting assist apparatus 10 is inset downward from anupper part of the assembly 1 as far as there is a sufficient clearancebetween the assembly 1 and the vehicle body, in which the claspingmembers 11, 12 are located to have a distance between mutual armportions 11 a, 12 a exceeding a maximum width of the tire 2 and each ofthe arm portions 11 a, 12 a is directed to a direction of rotating axialcenter of the assembly 1. Then, either or both of the clasping members11, 12 are slid to apply protective members 11 c, 12 c arranged on thearm portions 11 a, 12 a to both side surfaces of the tire 2. At the sametime, the slide-preventive member 16 slide so as to apply to the slideportion 11 b of the clasping member 11 at a loosened state of the nuts16-3, 16-4 by the guiding action of the elongated hole 15.

When the slide-preventive member 16 is applied to the slide portion 11b, an outer peripheral surface of the eccentric disc 16-2 locatednearest to the rotating axial center X₂ is applied to the slidingportion 11 b (see FIG. 4). Then, the sleeve bearing 16-1 is stronglyfixed to the sliding portion 12 b of the clasping member 12 through thenut 16-3.

Next, the handle 16-5 is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction,whereby the slide portion 11 b is forcedly moved inward (toward leftside in FIGS. 1 and 2) by an eccentric quantity δ at maximum through theouter peripheral surface located faraway from the rotating axial centerX₂. FIG. 2 shows a state of sliding the slide portion at the maximumeccentric quantity. If the rigidity of the sidewall portion in theassembly 1 is high, the rotation of the handle 16-5 may be stoppedbefore the maximum eccentric quantity.

After rotation of the handle 16-5 is stopped, the shaft of the eccentricdisc 16-2 is strongly fixed to the sleeve bearing 16-1 through the nut16-4. Thus, the assembly 1 is first sandwiched between the claspingmembers 11, 12 while sufficiently pushing the arm portions 11 a, 12 a(protective members 11 c, 12 c) onto the sidewall portions of the tire2.

The vibration applying machine 14 is actuated by supplying pressurizedair while holding the above state to vibrate the assembly 1, duringwhich plural fastening nuts 7, for example five fastening nuts 7 aresuccessively clamped little by little. In this case, it is enough totake a care of causing no excessive clamping of the nut irrespective ofthe clamping order of the fastening nuts. After clamping of allfastening nuts is complete, the center of rotating axis of the assembly1 is accurately arranged with the axial center of the axel in straightline.

Second Embodiment

This embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 shows a simplified schematic view of an outline of an assembly 1including a rotating axial center thereof together with a side view of amounting assist apparatus 20 illustrating a state of sandwiching theassembly 1 likewise FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 shows a perspectively plan viewof the mounting assist apparatus 20 together with a schematic view ofthe outer contour of the assembly 1. In FIGS. 5 and 6, an axle portionof a vehicle is omitted.

A pair of clasping members are a pair of arm-shaped plate memberssomewhat bent at its top portion to increase a portion contacting withthe assembly 1. One of these plate members 21, 22, particularly theplate member 22 in the illustrated embodiment is strongly attached andfixed to an end portion of a rod member 23, while the other plate member21 is slidably attached to the rod member 23, whereby both the platemembers 21, 22 are arranged to face each other and a distancetherebetween is freely adjusted. Preferably, a slide assisting sleeve 21b is disposed on a slide portion of the plate member 21, and a fasteningsleeve 22 b is disposed onto a fastening portion of the plate member 22.Furthermore, thick solid portions 21 a and 22 a are rubbery elastomersdeveloping the same function as the protective member in the firstembodiment.

The rod member 23 is provided with a male portion 23 a threaded from theright-hand end toward the left-hand side within a range adaptable to atire size of the assembly 1 applied to the mounting assist apparatus 20.A female member 26 engaging with the male portion 23 a is fitted ontothe rod member 23 before the mounting of a grip 27 onto the rod member.Preferably, a taper portion 26 a directing to the slide assisting sleeve21 b of the plate member 21 is formed on the female member 26 to providea sufficient pushing contact with the slide assisting sleeve 21 b and abase of the taper portion 26 a is nut-shaped as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.Although one female member 26 is used in the illustrated embodiment,double nuts may be used for the prevention of loosening by theapplication of vibration.

The same vibration applying machine 24 as in the first embodiment isfixed onto the surface of the plate member 21. In this case, vibrationshaving a frequency of about 60 Hz are generated by supplying thepressurized air through the inlet port 24 a to the vibration applyingmachine 24 likewise the first embodiment.

The mounting of the assembly onto the axle of the vehicle in the secondembodiment is fundamentally the same as in the first embodiment exceptfor the following points. That is, only the arm-shaped plate member 21as the clasping member is freely slided, and the plate member 21 isslided while applying to the plate member 22 to the assembly 1 duringthe inserting of the mounting assist apparatus 20 onto the assembly 1,and the strong sandwiching of the assembly 1 between the plate members21, 22 is attained by the female member 26. The effects in the secondembodiment are substantially the same as in the first embodiment.

In order to confirm the effects of the first and second embodiments ascompared with the conventional method, an evaluation test is carried outas follows. The assembly 1 is comprised of a radial tire for passengercar having a tire size of 195/70R14 and a wheel having a rim contour of14×6JJ and has a total weight of about 10 kg. After the assembly 1 isinflated under a given internal pressure, the unbalance quantity of theassembly 1 itself is rendered into approximately zero by using abalancer capable of precisely detecting the unbalance quantity andproperly correcting static and dynamic unbalances.

The assembly 1 is mounted onto the vehicle and detached therefrom 10times according to the mounting assist apparatuses of the first andsecond embodiments as well as the aforementioned conventional firstmethod, during which the unbalance quantity (gr) of the assembly 1mounted onto the vehicle is measured by means of on-the-car balancerevery the mounting. The mounting work of the assembly 1 is carried outby a general skilled worker instead of an expert. The measured resultsevery the mounting are shown in Table 1. Of course, the smaller theunbalance quantity, the better the property.

TABLE 1 Dynamic unbalance quantity (gr) Measuring Conventional FirstSecond number method embodiment embodiment 1 12 3 4 2 9 1 1 3 14 5 3 411 4 3 5 5 2 2 6 8 3 4 7 8 2 3 8 10 4 5 9 16 4 2 10  15 3 3 average 10.83.1 2.9

As seen from Table 1, the considerably improved balance property isobtained in the first and second embodiments as compared with theconventional method. It should be noticed that the unbalance quantitycan be controlled to not more than ⅓ of the conventional method in allembodiments judging from the average value and is fairly smaller thanthe unbalance quantity of 10 gr or more in the conventional methodcausing a fear of creating violent vehicle vibrations during thehigh-speed running of the vehicle.

According to the invention, it is possible to mount the tire-wheelassembly onto the axel of the vehicle even by the generally skilledworker in a high precision without eccentrically arranging the assemblyirrespective of the weight of the assembly while controlling thescattering between the workers at minimum. As a result, the good ridecomfortability of the vehicle against vibrations is maintained and alsothere is caused no risk accompanied with vibrations during the runningof the vehicle and there is no bad influence upon the resistance touneven wear in the tire.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for assisting the mounting of atire-wheel assembly onto a hub of an axle of a vehicle, which comprisesthe steps of; temporarily and loosely mounting the tire-wheel assemblyonto the hub of the axle of the vehicle, applying a pair of oppositeclasping members capable of adjusting a distance between the claspingmembers to both side surfaces of the tire-wheel assembly, temporarilyfastening the clasping members through a fastening means to hold anapplied state of the clasping member to the tire-wheel assembly,applying vibrations to the clasping members through a vibration applyingmachine fixed to one of the clasping members, and successively andcompletely clamping all of the fastening nuts or the wheel bolts whilevibrating the tire-wheel assembly by the vibration applying machine toaccurately arrange a center of rotating axis of the tire-wheel assemblyand a center of rotating axis of the vehicle axle in a straight line. 2.A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of providingone of clasping members at its end side with a guide for slidablyguiding the other clasping member along the clasping direction of thetire-wheel assembly.
 3. A method according to claim 1, furthercomprising the step of providing the fastening means as aslide-preventive member that slidably engaging with an elongated holeformed in the clasping member to be guided to extend in the claspingdirection thereof and preventing the sliding between mutual claspingmembers at the position of sandwiching the tire-wheel assembly.
 4. Amethod according to claim 3, wherein the slide-preventive membercomprises a sleeve bearing provided with a flange said method comprisingcontactly engaging said flange with a peripheral portion of theelongated hole and slidably fitting to the elongated hole, a cam-shapedmember provided with a shaft rotatably supported by the bearing, ahandle rotating the cam-shaped member, a nut fastening the sleevebearing to the clasping member and a nut fastening the shaft portion tothe sleeve bearing.
 5. A method according to claim 3, wherein theslide-preventive member comprises a bolt and said method comprisesslidably fitting said bolt to the elongated hole and a nut-shaped membercontactly engaging with the peripheral portion of the elongated hole. 6.A method according to claim 1, wherein the pair of the clasping membersare a pair of arm members, and said method further comprises fixing oneof arm members to an end portion of a rod member and the other armmember is slidably attached to the rod member.
 7. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the fastening means comprises a male portion threadedon the rod member and a female member engaging with the male portion andsaid method further comprises pushing one of the clasping members at theposition of sandwiching the tire-wheel assembly.